Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford points leader Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) had a great seat to watch a slugfest between Forsythe Championship Racing drivers Paul Tracy (#3 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) and A.J. Allmendinger (#7 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone), but when the dust had settled, it was Bourdais that stepped up to throw the battle-ending blow. source: champcarworldseries.com Portland racewinner Allmendinger and defending Cleveland champion Tracy swapped the first-day pole five times in a furious qualifying session at Burke Lakefront Airport today, but instead of locking up the front row, the Forsythe duo ended their day looking up at the two-time defending series champ. Bourdais blistered the 2.106-mile circuit in 56.851 seconds (133.359 mph) on his 15th and final lap of the day to lead the first round of qualifying. Bourdais earned himself a front-row starting spot by leading today's qualifying, and earned his 163rd championship point of the year, widening his gap to 31 markers over RuSPORT's Justin Wilson (#9 CDW Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone). The Flying Frenchman put his best time on the board after the checkered flag had flown on today's session, knocking Tracy off the pole after the Canadian superstar had used his alternate Bridgestone Potenzas to put up a top time of 57.011 seconds (132.985 mph). Despite holding the pole when the checkered flag waved, Tracy ended up third as not only did Bourdais take the point on his last lap, Allmendinger checked in with a best effort of 56.965 seconds (133.092 mph) to snare the second spot. The Forsythe drivers were the stars of the show in the early going as Tracy knocked Wilson off the pole just 14 minutes into the 35-minute session. Allmendinger dropped Tracy back to second on his next pass, then took a half-second advantage on his next lap. Tracy stormed back three laps later to retake the lead, only to have Allmendinger leapfrog him again on his next time past the flagstand.
Recent Articles
|
Racing Multimedia
Recommendations |